By BEN LEACH Staff Writer, 609-272-7261
Published: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
New Jersey-based companies aren't the only ones interested in the Atlantic coast's wind power potential.
Seattle-based Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Co. has proposed a wind farm about 10 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. Other projects that have been proposed would put offshore wind farms about 16 miles off the coast. All, including the Grays Harbor proposal, are concentrated in the same area of the ocean.
The proposed project would generate 1,000 megawatts of wind and wave energy, which would be enough to power about 300,000 homes in New Jersey. In comparison, the three projects that have been approved so far - Bluewater Wind, Fishermen's Energy and Garden State Offshore Energy - each are expected to generate about 350 megawatts of power.
Burton Hamner, president of Grays Harbor Ocean Energy, said the site - one of six across the country the company has proposed for wind farms - was chosen not because of New Jersey's increased interest in wind power, but because it met all of the criteria his company identified as being well-suited for wind power.
The criteria included having a relatively shallow shelf and remaining outside of shipping lanes as well as providing energy for a state that has higher electricity costs. According to the Energy Information Administration, New Jersey has the fourth highest electricity rate in the country, an average of 17.26 cents per kilowatt hour. "There's nowhere else (besides the six sites) that fits our criteria," Hamner said.
According to Hamner, the company would use mobile jack-up platforms. The turbines would rest on top of the platforms and, after construction on land was complete, would be taken out to sea with a semi-submersible barge. Once at sea, the legs would be lowered onto the seabed.
Hamner said the technology would not require expensive ships from Europe that have special cranes designed for deploying turbines, which is used in monopile technology. He also said the platforms have proved to withstand Force 5 hurricanes.
The turbines "have to survive every wave, every day, all the time," Hamner said. "But the waves only have to win once."
The technology also would allow power generation from wave energy, which would be captured by oscillating water columns on the jacks.
The company filed an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, in October. Like the other sites being explored by companies in New Jersey, sites on the Outer Continental Shelf have to be approved for leasing before a company can begin construction.
In October, the FERC announced that it had jurisdiction over hydroelectric projects on the Outer Continental Shelf. Hamner filed a proposal to lease the site with the FERC, based on the wave energy the project would generate. The FERC does not regulate wind projects.
The lease claim is being disputed by the Minerals Management Service, which has the ability to lease the Outer Continental Shelf for alternative energy projects, according to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The MMS argues that is should be the sole leasing agency for offshore alternative energy projects.
The MMS has yet to finalize its leasing policy, but a decision is expected to be made early in 2009. According to Nicholas Pardi, a spokesman for the MMS, the two government agencies are trying to resolve the conflicting lease claims.
While it may seem like the ocean could get crowded with wind projects, anything that already has been approved is set to move forward. According to the BPU, any company that wants to build an offshore wind farm needs to go through the same licensing procedures as all of the other wind energy companies.
"We like that the BPU has a really public stakeholder process that balances various uses of the ocean in a planned manner," said Dan Cohen, president of Fishermen's Energy.
